I, the little cat, am a substitute for others who are starving and thin

There were even comments like, "The reason Kayaba Akihiko trapped us here is because he was addicted to games as a child, and his mother forced him to play as a desensitization treatment for his internet addiction."

Originally, Kayaba Akihiko had no intention of trapping them to death, but when he thought about what these people would say after they got out, he suddenly felt that it would be a good idea for them to stay here.

Compared to Heathcliff's stern and serious face, he looks more like a developer, with ordinary appearance, short hair, a white coat with a white shirt, and a tie, looking like a scientific researcher.

When she saw him, Yimi was confused for a moment, thinking that she had pulled the wrong person, but Yui hid behind Yimi honestly.

"Are you the one cooking the shit behind the scenes?"

"You found me here. It looks like you've already used it. So, Cardinal can't find a solution for you?"

Kayaba Akihiko gently stroked the emergency login console. "Who's your developer? I'd really like to meet him if I get the chance."

Although he had never actively communicated with Yimi in the Blood Alliance Knights, he was definitely paying attention to her. In fact, rather than communicating, he was more interested in seeing how Yimi would behave if she was left alone.

"Developer?"

Yimi shook her head, not understanding what he meant.

She pointed at Kayaba Akihiko and said, "Send Kirito and the others home now, or I'll beat you."

"Hit? I see. He chose not to tell you?"

Kayaba Akihiko looked at them calmly.

"Can't!"

Yui wanted to stop him.

In a sense, Yui could be the creation that Kayaba Akihiko is most proud of in this game.

"The game's original design was that there was no exit button. In my original design, players had to defeat the final boss before they could leave. After you showed up, Cardinal fixed the problem by giving you the title of final boss."

At this point, Kayaba Akihiko stroked his chin, thinking for a moment. "I see. Perhaps Cardinal didn't mistake you, who was transferred to the top floor, for the final boss. Perhaps its calculations were to treat you as the boss, using the player's hands to complete the 'virus removal'."

After all, all data except the top level cannot be changed, but a program is just a program after all. While calculating the antivirus method, it uses another piece of data to continuously strengthen the final boss.

"I think your name is Yimi. I think I've made myself clear. If Kirito... or any of the players in this game want to leave, they only have one option: defeat you. That means attacking you and reducing the HP value displayed on the side of your face to zero."

Kayaba Akihiko looked at the health bar that showed up along with Imi's hostility. The special decoration was probably made by Cardinal to make it easier for players to discover her true identity.

"Hp value?"

"Please stop talking!"

Yui reached out to cover Yimi's ears, but didn't know where to start on the sides of Yimi's face and head.

"Don't you have any such concept? Is it your developer's fault, or has Cardinal modified your consciousness?"

Kayaba Akihiko called up the developer menu and frowned slightly.

He didn't find any command that would allow him to Tp over immediately.

"In other words, players have to kill you if they want to leave. You are the last gatekeeper to the logout button."

As soon as he finished speaking, he saw a fist, almost as big as his head, growing larger and larger. [World] was originally a stand invisible to ordinary people, but perhaps because he was not a player, the reflection in his eyes was crystal clear.

However, once he was separated from Heathcliff, the last layer of his relationship with the player was also severed, and attacks from any source would only directly display the [Immortal Object] reminder.

Because even the animation effects and code to hurt him do not exist in this game, even if Cardinal gives her a certain degree of system-breaking artifact in order to enhance the final boss, it cannot change this.

"Muda!"

The crisp child's voice dubbed [World], although it lacked some of the original flavor, it subtly made the punch sound more powerful.

Unlike the effect of the Spear of Longinus, the text was immediately erased after the warning was triggered. There was no need to overwrite the reality at all, and Kayaba Akihiko was actually knocked out and slammed against the wall of the room.

He was right. He didn't even have a health bar, so he couldn't be affected by the attack. However, the pain was like being hit by a shot put from a distance, which was transmitted to his nerves in a real way. This was the opposite of the original intention of complete infiltration.

"Yimi!"

Yui screamed.

"So weak."

She thought that the one who cooked shit behind the scenes would be at least as strong as the fake grandmother.

Yui raised her hand, not knowing what to say next. When she grabbed Yimi's hand earlier, she wanted to prevent a conflict between Yimi and the developer, but now Yimi beat up the developer...

Yimi walked up to Kayaba Akihiko, whose mind was blank, raised her small leather shoe and stepped on him: "Put them back."

Kayaba Akihiko did not respond immediately. He put his hand over the side of his face that was hit, as if he was savoring the feeling just now.

Because he had not suffered any real injuries, the pain, though intense, did not affect his original way of thinking.

What kind of virus is this? Does it amplify touch responses and cause pain?

"This is a question of authority. I don't intend to keep them locked up forever."

Kayaba Akihiko lowered his hand from his face and said, "Initially, I did have the authority to release all players directly, but if it involves a virus like yours that I can't handle, the outcome will be different."

He chuckled, a hint of bitterness. "It seems like a dead end. Cardinal has placed the logout condition on you, and if you want to leave, you must be killed. Your strength is also beyond the player's limit. The only other solution is to weaken you programmatically, or bypass you and directly release everyone back using administrator privileges."

"But this won't work. If there was a way to weaken and bypass you from the beginning, I wouldn't have to place you and all the gaps in the Ruby Palace."

"Yimi."

He called Yimi's name, his eyes gleaming with a gleam: "How much do you know about humans?"

"Humanity?"

Kayaba Akihiko sighed, shook off the little girl's trampling, and slowly stood up, shaking off the non-existent dust on his body. "Perhaps Kirito won't tell you this, but all the players in this game, including my own body, are in a state of immobility and needing care in the outside world."

"Not only would it be a burden to those outside, but our bodies wouldn't be able to sustain this situation for long. Living in this world with you forever is simply impossible."

Just like he had said to Kirito before, he stopped there.

As a program, what would it do?

Does AI have love? Would you sacrifice for the one you love? This is the question he wants to know most at this moment.

Kayaba Akihiko didn't make any move, just looked at the other person quietly.

Yui didn't say a word the whole time, holding Yimi's hand. She wanted to shake her head at Yimi, but was restricted by certain things outside the program and couldn't do so.

He glanced sideways at Yui, and it was then that Yimi finally began to look at his health bar. Like the other players, his health bar was fixed to the side of his face, so when he wanted to see it, he could only move his eyes without moving his head.

[World] opened his five fingers.

He grabbed the blood bar on the side of Yimi's face and placed it next to Kayaba Akihiko's face.

Kayaba Akihiko: "?"

39

Chapter 39 Log out.

"This pool is quite difficult to find. I heard it has its 'owner'."

The old man Kirito was talking to was named Nishida. He was the head of security for the company responsible for the network security of this game. He was testing the game himself out of devotion to his duties and ended up trapped here. He was not the only one trapped in this game for similar reasons.

"Owner?"

Kirito gave him a confused look.

"Well, actually, I noticed a special kind of bait in the store. I had no idea what it was for, so I tried it in this lake, but it was a complete failure."

Nishida turned and looked at Kirito: "Little girl, what is your strength value?"

This game has a team 'switching' mechanism. Although I haven't tried it, it should be possible if the player with a higher fishing level can first hook the king fish, and then switch to a player with a higher strength to bring it out.

"Me? My strength isn't that high either. After all, monster hunting is way too dangerous."

Kirito quickly waved his hands to refuse.

I don’t know if it’s because of some hidden bonus from his equipment, but he has become more and more skilled at suppressing his voice in the past two days.

"Really? That's a shame, but even if we catch some fish without sesame oil or other seasonings, the resulting dish will still taste quite a bit worse."

Asuna has already developed substitutes for real-life seasonings like sesame oil, but in the face of this, Kirito could only smile and try to keep a low profile.

Kirito looked at the small trash fish he had caught, and then at the big fish that Nishida had just hooked.

"Mr. Xitian, can you sell me the fish you caught?"

He wanted to buy it back and tell Yimi that he caught it himself. Yimi was not very satisfied with the miscellaneous fish he caught yesterday.

"Eh? It's okay if I just give it to you."

Nishida smiled sincerely, took the fish out of his inventory and handed it to Kirito: "Although it can't replenish my body, I fish just to enjoy my 'retirement' life. If I could go out, I wonder if I could continue my previous work..."

"..."

Such gentle words would only make Kirito feel even more depressed. He probably wouldn't come tomorrow, at least not at the same time as Mr. Nishida.

Kirito left early. He knew that he had probably made a serious mistake, but he did not regret his choice. At least he did not have to face the 'savior' with self-mockery afterwards this time.

"A girl...Kirito?"

"fortunate."

The familiar voice made Kirito stop. He looked down at his skirt and was silent for two seconds before he uttered, "You got the wrong person."

When he left, he deleted almost all his friends except this girl. Perhaps it was because in his impression Xing was a fragile girl so he didn't want her to mistakenly think that she was dead and be sad, even though she was actually a few years older than him.

Yukiya turned away awkwardly: "It's very beautiful, I will pretend I didn't see it."

There's no point pretending. Friends will reveal their locations to each other, and the other party will probably find you based on this.

Kirito sighed. "Have you heard everything? I wish you could just ignore the news that I'm living here."

Xing quickly waved her hands: "I haven't told anyone, and I'm not questioning anyone on their behalf. I just think you might be under too much pressure and need someone to talk to... Sorry, you're already married."

She was almost there, maybe she would be the one to marry the other party in the game, but she failed to keep up with him.

When she was scared, it was Kirito who stayed by her side and gave it to her.

Kirito didn't really want to talk about the topic that Xing wanted to ask: "Would you like to come to my house as a guest? Asuna has already maxed out her cooking skills a while ago, and her cooking skills are really great."

"May I?"

"Well, but there might be a child who is too naughty... Sachi?"

Under Kirito's gaze, the girl in front of him suddenly disappeared?

Disappeared?

what happened?

Xing...died? Why? It's been a year, and someone suddenly took Xing's helmet away?

Kirito opened the menu anxiously and saw that Xing's status in the friend list had been changed to offline.

What happened?

He looked up and saw that the sky was being torn apart, the program was collapsing, and this huge floating castle with a hundred floors was self-destructing.

The perspective was confused for a moment, and Kirito had already appeared above the clouds, above the real clouds.

He watched from the perspective of a bystander as Aincrad, the castle he had loved and hated, gradually fell into ruins.

"Kirito!"

Asuna hugged him from behind with concern, which helped him come to his senses.

The game crashed again?

Kirito looked behind him and saw no other players besides Asuna, but there was one person who was not classified as a player.

"Kayaba Akihiko."

"It looks like it ends here."

Kayaba Akihiko rubbed his face and looked at his hard work that had killed so many people.

His tone sounded as if he could no longer maintain the calmness that he had before, looking down on everyone.

"What's going on, Sachi?"

Kirito demanded sharply.

"Xing? Is that the player's name? She should have logged out already, logged out of the game normally."

After rubbing one side of his face, Kayaba Akihiko rubbed the other side.

The health bar installed on his head was indeed useful, but fortunately his administrator privileges were not lost, and he quickly locked the health bar to avoid being killed.